I have always enjoyed those messages here on the reflector announcing K-2
Serial No. X is on the air. I always wanted to make that announcement.
Now's my turn.
K-2 Serial No. 5529 is on the air!
It was a summer project for me, from early June to this week in August, in
increments of time ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 hours with a 5.0 hour stretch in
there one Saturday. I took the advice of several builders and worked in
short intervals. I counted almost 60 hours in construction, but that would
be extreme, since I was not in a hurry. I could do it again in 40 hours or
less, with what I learned this first time.
I had my problems, but not many. Luckily, I discovered them as I went along.
I incorrectly installed two of the variable inductors. Unsoldering them was
a nightmare. Heaven help me if I had done the same with an IC. The advice to
throw away the solder wick and buy a good desoldering iron is urgently
important. I didn't do that and had to pay the price in time and anxiety. I
wouldn't attempt the project again without one.
The two variable inductors destroyed in the uninstallation were promptly
replaced by Elecraft's parts department. I had two missing capacitors which
were likewise supplied promptly by the big E. At the end of installing the
capacitors, I discovered two had been installed in error. Again, Elecraft to
the rescue with new parts. Then, in finishing the diodes, I found one of
them had been incorrectly installed. Presto, a new one is promptly delivered
from Elecraft upon request. Thanks to Elecraft for this sterling and
gracious support.
I'm thinking maybe I could have saved some time with a desoldering gun. At a
point I was worried about damage to the board when doing the parts
uninstalling.
Must get a desoldering gun!
Alignment was tricky for me. I didn't get the hang of the calibration at
first. Then I was baffled by the filter alignment. The manual tells all, but
I couldn't visualize it. I was manually setting the BFO frequency from
filter to filter. I thought I had to actually set it, but the rig actually
resets it's BFO after a filter adjustment. All you have to do is go from
filter to filter, make a slight adjustment, then reset to original setting,
and then press AGC. I would change the BFO setting from filter to filter,
not realizing the last filter I had set had changed automatically. I can't
explain it, but I understand it a little better now. I was over-thinking the
problem.
I'm not new to Elecraft products, since I've owned two K-1's for years. But
I didn't build either of them. I've loved the two radios. Once, I wrote a
review of the K-1 for eHam.com that was posted on the Elecraft web site. But
I was late getting around to the K-2. I'm glad I went for the K-2 instead of
building a K-1 as my first project.
In addition to the desoldering gun suggestion, I want to endorse the idea of
an inventory in the beginning. It's no fun, for sure, but it saves time
later. The task of identifying parts and finding them when you need them is
one of the hardest tasks for this occasional kit builder. Without a tool for
checking capacitance, I had to sometimes guess at which one was correct. The
inventory helps by letting the process of elimination do it's magic. If I
had done it in the beginning, and if I hadn't put the wrong parts in the
first time, I could have cut five to ten hours off the construction time.
I've read here that Styrofoam is a bad idea. I'd like to be sure about that
since is has always been a great way for me to store parts for easy access
along the way. I wouldn't try to use it for an IC or transistor, but what
about the other parts. Are they really in danger from Styrofoam?
One more thing. Yes, I used The Toroid Guy. The only problem I have ever had
with a kit was a badly wound toroid. Never again if I can help it. His
toroids were perfect.
Jimmy Walker
WA4ILO
Macon, GA
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